costco

The last time I was in costco was about 1995. I went with my smother to the south London location. It was big and stupid and all the people scurried around like rats in a Kolkotta slum/junkyard.

The thing about the elite memberships and the fact that only some things are cheaper really soured me to the whole experience. Plus, the items I was checking out were not any cheaper than buying them at my local friendly customer oriented grocery store in my town which was a couple blocks walking distance away, instead of a 40 minute drive.

Since that initial visit, I have boycotted this retail behemoth. And for good reason. The place is still a complete freaking rat nest.

An obese woman and her obese teenage son walked past me with several cases of water in their Kia sized shopping cart. And I paused to consider why two people so fat would be in such a state buying (and therefore likely consuming) merely water. Then I saw the rest of the cart laden with case upon case of sweetened carbonated beverages in cans: pop. How many people are in that family? How often do they come to costco? What is the thrill in spending money at a big box retail giant that does little or nothing to support the local economy (that is, unless you own shares in the costco).

Costco and its cousins of ultramatic utilitarian consumerism exploit everyone at every link in the chain from producer to consumer. It's thoroughly disgusting that we've allowed this sort of retail society to ruin local business and then force everyone to shop here because no other stores are left open in the aftermath of the retail wars.

I will be keeping my debit card in my wallet, thank you. That is, until we get to Superstore.